Michigan’s population is stagnating. And so are efforts to reverse that trend. • Michigan Advance

Maybe Michigan doesn’t want to increase its population growth at all.

It’s been nearly eight months since the Growing Michigan Together Council, commissioned by Governor Gretchen Whitmer, released a comprehensive report on ways to make Michigan a faster-growing, more prosperous state.

However, some say they are disappointed by the lack of urgency in tackling the state’s biggest economic problem.

You would think that the Whitmer administration would have adopted a “let’s strike while the iron is hot” attitude after the growth council submitted its report, said Eric Lupher, president of the nonpartisan Citizens Research Council of Michigan.

“I haven’t seen any of that. Bits and pieces that came out of the report seem to have momentum,” Lupher told me. “But they’re certainly not moving fast enough.”

New state office focuses on Michigan’s growing population

Whitmer dissolved the growth council earlier this month, saying its work was complete. Following that move, The Michigan Economic Development Corp. created the Michigan Growth Office, which will reportedly utilize four existing MEDC employees. The office will be led by Chief Growth Officer Hilary Doe.

In a press release, the MEDC pointed to a few key state budget allocations for fiscal 2025 to spur growth. They include $60 million to help start-up businesses, $30 million for college scholarships, $100 million for affordable housing and $75 million to boost public transportation.

Then the Growing Michigan Together Council has submitted its report Last December, Democratic Co-Chair Shirley Stancato called Michigan’s stagnant population “an unfolding crisis.”

“We rank 49th in population growth, and our preK-12 education outcomes lag behind faster-growing peer states,” said Stancato, chair of the Wayne State University Board of Governors. “While the challenges facing our state are not new, it is critical that we take action now.”

That’s not happening, said John Rakolta, Republican co-chair of the Growth Council. He told the Detroit News in April that the report “is sitting on a shelf somewhere, never to see the light of day again.”

Demographer Kurt Metzger said the Whitmer administration should use the report as a blueprint for growth, with established metrics and a timeline for achieving goals.

“All government investments and expenditures must be linked to the plan,” he told me.

The report focused its dozens of recommendations for how to grow the state’s population on three broad areas: developing a system of lifelong learning; creating a “transformative economic growth strategy” that will establish Michigan as “the innovation center of the Midwest”; and building “thriving, resilient communities that are magnets for young talent.”

These communities are walkable, have good public transportation connections, and have other amenities that young, recent graduates want.

A group of Democratic lawmakers have introduced bills to fund these items, but they are stalled in the Legislature.

The bills would allocate $600 million annually to the state’s main economic development fund, the Strategic Outreach and Attraction Reserve (SOAR) Fund, but $350 million of that would be allocated to public transportation, housing and land use.

This would mark a major change in the state’s economic development incentives, which have traditionally focused on encouraging businesses to invest in Michigan.

But the House of Representatives and the Senate not succeeded the bills before lawmakers went on summer recess and their prospects for passage when the Legislature resumes in September are unclear. Whitmer is said to be cool with the idea of ​​cutting SOAR funds that are used to attract business investment.

“That’s a problem,” Lupher said. “Whitmer is not advocating a change in economic development policy. How long are we going to go after low-wage, blue-collar jobs (in the factory)” and not make efforts to create good-paying jobs that require a four-year degree?

Lupher acknowledged that significant population growth will not occur overnight. Michigan’s share of the U.S. population is has decreased for over 50 years. It will take years to reverse that trend.

But Lupher said this might be the best time to focus entirely on population size, because Whitmer will be a bad governor next year.

“Maybe it’s fair enough” that we haven’t seen much progress on the population front, Lupher said. “But if this is her problem, this seems like the year to get it done.”

Lupher also agreed with me that Michigan voters don’t view the fact that the state’s population has hovered around 10 million people for years as a major problem.

Affordable housing projects are often sunk by NIMBYism (Not in My Backyard). And the few places in Michigan that are growing, like Traverse City, often face recoil to that growth.

“Maybe 10 million is the right number,” he said. “For me, it’s not necessarily population growth, it’s getting Michigan back to a more prosperous state.”

The problem, he said, is the age structure of Michigan’s population.

In 1980, 60% of the state’s residents were under the age of 35. That percentage is expected to drop to 41% by 2045. A study prepared for the growth council unless the state can find more younger people needed to fill the labor force.

If Michigan is in a population, education and wealth crisis, as Stancato said, then policymakers must act.

There’s a quote often attributed to former Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel that applies to Michigan’s challenge, but there was actually talk Twenty years ago, Stanford University economist Paul Romer said of his fear that the United States was lagging behind other countries in educational achievement:

“A crisis,” Romer said, “is a terrible thing to waste.”